Multi orifice structure and method of making same

ABSTRACT

The invention is a multiorifice structure and method of manufacture. The structure comprises a plurality of triangularly shaped orifices angularly disposed with respect to a common axis. The structure is formed by fusing together concentric alternating layers of cylindrical members and parallel rods angularly disposed with respect to the axis of the cylindrical members. The fused structure is sliced generally normal to its axis to produce a plurality of multiorifice wafers or discs. The interstices between the rods and the cylindrical members form a plurality of small triangularly shaped orifices particularly well suited to use as an atomizer for an internal combustion engine fuel injector valve.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention related to multiorifice structures and a method offabrication and, more particularly, to a multiorifice structure spraydisc for use in conjunction with an automotive type fuel injector valvefor atomizing the fuel being injected into an internal combusion engine.

2. Prior Arts

The use of multiorifice structures in connection with nozzles fordispersing or atomizing an exiting fluid is well known in the art. Suchmultiorifice structures are found in a wide variety of applicationsranging from old fashion sprinkling cans for watering a garden tosophisticated fuel injector valves for internal combustion engines.Whether the multiorifice structure merely disperses the fluid as withthe sprinkling can or atomizes the fluid as in the fuel injector nozzleapplication depends upon several factors, one of which is the size ofthe apertures, as well as force with which the fluid is ejected.Atomization is best accomplished when fluid is ejected from relativelysmall apertures with relatively high forces. For automotive fuelinjector applications, small apertures having effective diameters in therange from several hundred to less than one hundred microns appear togive the desired atomization without the need of having the fuelpressurized above tolerable limits. Unfortunately, multiorificestructures having apertures in this size range are difficult tomanufacture and their cost is prohibitive to meet the high volume, lowcost needs for the automotive market.

Various techniques for making the desired multiorifice structure, suchas drilling or punching, are impractical. Photoetching or chemicalmachining appear as a better approach but due to the depth of theapertures required, the desired uniformity of the apertures is difficultto achieve. Alternatively, the fusion of small diameter tubes disclosedby Roberts et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,737,367 (June 1973) appears as thebest approach taught by the prior art. The disadvantage of this approachis that the resultant aperture passages are parallel to each other andtherefore the spray cone of the emitted fuel is limited. The divergenceof the spray pattern emitted by the Roberts type structure can beincreased by coining the structure to produce a curved surface.Alternatively, the parallel tubes in various sections of the structuremay be angularly disposed as taught by Roberts et al. in U.S. Pat. No.3,713,202 (January 1973).

Atomization may also be obtained by twisting the individual rows oftubes, as taught by ARL Ellis in U.S. Pat. No. 1,721,381 (June 1929). Inthis patent the alternate rows are twisted in the opposite direction toincrease the turbulance thereby enhancing the mixing and combustion ofthe emitted gases. Ellis further teaches the use of the intersticesbetween the tubes to pass the oxidizing gas which supports thecombustion of the fuel gas passing through the tubes. E. E. Fassler inU.S. Pat. No. 3,602,620 (August 1971) teaches a thermal lance in whichthe oxidizing gas is fed to the tip of the lance through the intersticesformed by twisting solid wires about a core. The twisted rods in thispatent provide a tortuous path to impede the gas flow.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is a multiorifice wafer structure having a plurality ofangularly disposed passages and a method for making the multiorificestructure.

The structure is made by fusing concentric layers of solid rodsinterspaced with cylindrically shaped members wherein said successivelayer of rods is disposed at a progressively larger angle with respectto the axis of the fused assembly. The fused assembly of cylinders androds is then cut into relatively thin wafers wherein the intersticesformed between the fused layers of rods and the cylindrical members forma plurality of angularly disposed passageways in which angles of thepassageways increase progressively as a function of their distance fromthe center of the structure. The thickness of the wafer is determined bythe effective aperture of the interstices and is sufficient to impart tothe fluid passing through the interstices a directional componentparallel to the angular displacement of the rods with respect to thecommon axis of the structure.

The object of the invention is a multiorifice structure having aplurality of passageways angularly disposed with respect to a commonaxis.

Another object of the invention is a multiorifice structure in which theangular displacement of the passageways increases as a function of thedisplacement of the passageway from the center of the structure.

Another object of the invention is a flat multiorifice spray plate for afuel injector valve in which the fuel passing through the spray plate isejected at an angle which is a function of orifices distance from thecenter of the structure.

Still another object is a method for making a multiorifice structurewhich comprises fusing concentric layers of alternating cylindricalmembers and angularly disposed rods into an integral assembly, andslicing such integral assembly in a direction normal to the axis of saidcylindrical members to produce a plurality of multiorifice structureswherein the interstices between said rods and cylinders form a pluralityof angularly disposed passageways.

These and other advantages of the invention will become apparent from areading of the following detailed description in conjunction with thedrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective of the disclosed multiorifice structure.

FIG. 2 is an exploded side view showing the angular disposition of thesequential layers of rods.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged section of the multiorifice structure.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view illustrating the structure of the internallayers of a composite assembly.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged partial section showing a structure fabricatedfrom coated rods and coated cylindrical members.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a fused composite and the resultantmultiorifice structures cut therefrom.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

An exemplary embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIG. 1. Themultiorifice structure, designated generally by the numeral 10, is awafer comprising alternating concentric layers of solid rods 12 andcylindrical members 14 fused or sintered into an integral assembly. Eachlayer of rods 12 comprises a plurality of individual rods 16 angularlydisposed with respect to the axis of the concentric cylindrical members.In the preferred embodiment, each concentric layer of rods 12, startingfrom the center of the structure is disposed at a greater angle withrespect to a core rod 18 than the preceding layer as illustrated in FIG.2. In FIG. 2, Row A designates the core rod 18 which is axially disposedwith respect to the wafer. Row B is a side view of just the first orinnermost layers of rods 16. Row C designates the next sequential layerof rods and Rows D and E represent the next sequential layers of rods.It is to be understood that only four layers of rods are used toillustrate the concept, and that in actual practice the structure mayhave from two or three layers to well over 100 layers. Further, theangles at which the rods 16 are disposed with reference to the core rod18 may be different than the angles shown. The angles shown areillustrative and the actual angular disposition of each layer or rodswith respect to the axis of the multiorifice structure dependsultimately on the end use of the structure including the desireddispersion angle or spray cone of the fluid emitted from the structure.As is obvious, increasing the angular displacement of the rods willincrease the resultant dispersion capabilities of the structure.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown an enlarged section of a portionof the multiorifice structure. As previously described, the structurecomprises a plurality of layers 12 of rods 16 separated by cylindricalmembers 14. The interstices or interstitial spaces 20 between theindividual rods 16 and the cylindrical members 14 form a plurality ofgenerally triangularly shaped passageways through the structure. Theseinterstices 20 constitute the orifices through which the fluid to bedispersed or atomized flows.

The thickness of the structure is a function of the effective apertureof the interstices and is selected such that the fluid passingtherethrough will, upon exiting the structure, have a directionalcomponent parallel to the axis of the interstices. Normally, thethickness of the multiorifice structure will be about 10 or more timesthe size of the individual orifices.

One advantage of the disclosed structure is that the triangular shapedorifices are more effective in the atomization of the exiting fluid thanthe circular orifices of the prior art. As is well known, surfacetension forces acting on the exiting fluid tend to cause the exitingfluid stream to oscillate which eventually cause the exiting stream offluid to break up in small droplets. The greater the distortion of theexiting stream from the natural spherical configuration of a free fluid,the greater will be the surface tension forces acting on the exitingfluid. As a result, the exiting fluid will be caused to vibrate morevigorously and break up into smaller particles than would be achievedwith circular orifices having the same effective aperture.

Another factor to be considered is the overall uniformity of theapertures formed by this method over conventional drilling and/orphotoetching techniques. The rods 16 are normally made by extrudingtechniques which result in very precise tolerances on its diameter,therefore, the triangular apertures resulting from the disclosedconfiguration will have a very uniform size.

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate a very simple and economical method forfabricating the disclosed multiorifice structure. Referring to FIG. 4, acentral or core rod 18 is circumscribed by six or more rods or wires16'. The first layer of rods 16' are twisted about the core and rod 18,so that their axis are disposed at a predetermined angle with respect tothe axis of core rod 18. The angle α may be 5° as indicated in FIG. 2-Bor any other desired angle. Core rod 18 and twisted rods 16' are thensheathed in a cylindrical member 14' whose internal diameter is equal todiameter of the core rod 18 plus two times the diameter of the rods 16'so that the rods 16' are in physical contact with the external surfaceof the core rod 18 and the internal surface of the cylindrical member14'. The external diameter of cylindrical member 14' is selected so thatan integral number of rods 16" of the same diameter as rods 16'completely surround member 14' with their external surfaces in contactwith each other. A second layer of rods or wires 16' are also twistedabout the external surface of the cylindrical member 14' and sheated ina second cylindrical member 14". The twisted rods on the second layerare angularly disposed with regard to the core rod 18 at an angle βwhich may be the same as α or may be different as shown in FIG. 2. Theinternal diameter of the cylindrical member 14" is selected so that therods 16" will be encased between and in contact with the externalsurface of member 14' and the internal surface of member 14". Theexternal diameter of member 14" is again selected so that an integralnumber of rods 16" of the same diameter as rods 16' will completelysurround member 14 with their external surfaces in contact with theadjacent rods. In a like manner, the layer of rods 16" will be sheathedin a cylindrical member 14"' and so on until the composite structure ofrods and cylindrical members has a diameter equal to the diameter of thedesired multiorifice structure 10. The composite structure is then fusedor sintered to form an integral structure 22 in which each rod is fusedto each adjacent rod and to the surfaces of the bounding cylindricalmembers 14.

To facilitate the fusion of the rods and the cylindrical members, therods and cylindrical members may be coated with a thin layer of materialhaving a lower melting temperature than the materials of the rods andcylindrical members, as shown in FIG. 5. This coating material may bedeposited on the surface of the rods and cylindrical members byelectroplating, dipping, vapor deposition or any other way known in theart. FIG. 5 is an enlarged section of the multiorifice structure inwhich the thickness of the coatings are exaggerated for illustrativepurposes. Referring to FIG. 5, each rod 16 and cylindrical member 14 iscoated with a thin layer of a material 24. For example, the rods 16 andcylindrical member may be made from a stainless or carbon steel and thecoating material may be copper, nickel, tin, or any other suitablematerial having a lower melting temperature. It is recognized that themultiorifice structure need not be made from metals, and glass as wellas plastic materials may be used. Further, it is not always necessarythat both the rods 16 and cylindrical members 14 be coated with thelower melting temperature material and alternatively, only one or otherneeds to be coated.

Referring now to FIG. 6, the fused assembly 22 is sliced or cut usingany of the known methods to produce a plurality of thin multiorificestructures 10 having the desired thickness. The sliced surfaces 26 ofthe multiorifice structures may subsequently be ground or polished toproduce a required surface finish or uniformity of thickness.

Although the invention has been described and illustrated with referenceto a particular configuration and method of manufacture, it is notcontemplated that the invention be limited to the structure shown or theparticular method of making discussed. It is recognized that thoseskilled in the art could conceive alternate embodiments wherein thecylindrical members could take alternate shapes or the single layer ofrods be replaced by rods having noncircular cross-sections or evenmultiple layers of rods between the cylindrical members withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A multiorifice fluid atomizer comprising a thinwafer having a plurality of alternating circular rows of parallel rodsand cylindrically shaped members concentrically disposed about an axisof symmetry, each of said rods being fused to each adjacent rod and toeach cylindrically shaped member tangent thereto to form an integralstructure, wherein the interstices between the rods and the cyndricallyshaped members form a plurality of orifices passing through said wafer.2. The fluid atomizer of claim 1 wherein the parallel rods in each ofsaid alternating circular row are disposed at an angle with respect tosaid axis of symmetry.
 3. The fluid atomizer of claim 2 wherein theparallel rods in each circular row are disposed at an angle with respectto said axis of symmetry and with respect to the rods in every othercircular row.
 4. The fluid atomizer of claim 2 wherein the parallel rodsin each circular row are disposed at an angle with respect to said axisof symmetry and wherein the angle at which said parallel rods aredisposed increases progressively in each successive circular row.
 5. Anatomizer for a fuel injector valve delivering fuel to an internalcombustion engine comprising a multiorifice wafer having an axis ofsymmetry, said wafer having a plurality of parallel rods disposed in aplurality of rows about said axis of symmetry and a plurality ofseparating members disposed intermediate each of said rows, said rowsand separating members fused into an integral structure having aplurality of open orifices passing through said wafer between said fusedparallel rods and said separating members.
 6. The atomizer of claim 5wherein said rows of parallel rods and said separating members havecircular configurations concentrically disposed about said axis ofsymmetry.
 7. The atomizer of claim 6 wherein the parallel rods in eachrow are disposed at a predetermined angle with reference to said axis ofsymmetry.
 8. The atomizer of claim 6 wherein the parallel rods in eachrow are disposed at an angle with respect to said axis of symmetry andwherein the angle at which said parallel rods in each row are disposedincreases progressively in each successive row as a function of rowsdistance from said axis of symmetry.